Dancers by Alexander Rutsch

What brings you to life? What animates your very being? What myths delighted you as a child? What folktales made you think that anything was possible? So many cultures have stories starring anthropomorphized beings. Observe the sculpture. Track what sensations come up in you. Notice the body language between the two figures. Consider their airiness, the lift to their frames, their connection to one another.

Movement: Imagine your body is made of wood. How would it feel to have sap running through you, to have bark for skin, to be the home of so many, etc. Join in the dance of the sculpture. Move as if you know the next steps to the routine. Let your limbs be like the figures’ segmented ones – composite but connected. Play with isolation, jumps, levels, lunges, volume. Feel free to be silly. Find joy and pleasure in the marvel of your locomotion.

Writing: The sculptor Alexander Rutsch was influenced by multiple arts movements including Dadaism. Arising out of early 20th century Europe, Dadaism challenged expectations, convention, and power structures. Rich with wit, irreverence, abstraction, and subversion, it informed visual, literary, and performing arts. In the spirit of Dadaist poet, Harold Ball, create a poem without words. Write down sounds. Embrace onomatopoeia and whimsy. Play with rhythm. Experiment with how meaning might be made. Read your work aloud (even if just to yourself).